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2017 Chevrolet Bolt Battery May Degrade As Much As 40% Over the Warranty Period

More than ever, EVs have become relevant thanks to the advances in battery cell technologies. Be that as it may, GM isn’t all that committed to the EV trend, at least not with the Bolt.
2017 Chevrolet Bolt owner's manual page 22 (battery degradation) 26 photos
Photo: Chevrolet
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Flicking through the pages of the owner’s manual for the Bolt, page 322 reveals something that will upset those who ponied up $37,495 or more to get their hands on the Bolt EV. Here’s the said problem: “Depending on use, the battery may degrade as little as 10% to as much as 40% of capacity over the warranty period.” Whoa, what the? That's a bit too much, if I'm honest.

Pardon me, but the battery degradation for a Tesla Model S P85 is under 10% over the 8-year/unlimited miles warranty, as proven by University of Oslo programmer Bjorn Nyland. So how come GM doesn’t trust the LG Chem-sourced cells in the Bolt? What are the conditions of “depending on use?”

As discovered by Inside EVs, the snippet on page 322 of the owner’s manual didn’t bode well for some Bolt owners. I find nothing wrong with a battery degradation of 10 percent or less after 8 years or 100,000 miles, but petering out at 40 percent is not cool. In theory, that’s 143 miles of range after 8 years of wear and tear, too few compared to the advertised 238 miles from new.

It’s worth remembering that Nissan settled a class action lawsuit over a similar problem with the 2011 and 2012 Leaf. 18,588 owners were covered by the settlement. Some brought their Leaf vehicles to Nissan to repair the battery to at least 70% capacity or, if not possible, get the battery replaced.

Regarding the terms and conditions in the Bolt’s owner’s manual, it appears that the phrasing was thought up by General Motors’ legal team. In other words, those who bought the Bolt did so knowing that a 40% battery degradation is possible. It says so in the owner’s manual, doesn’t it?

Hence, the manufacturer is fully covered from a legal perspective.
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 Download: 2017 Chevrolet Bolt owner's manual (PDF)

About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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